Notes: This show was webcast via LivePhish. Dogs Stole Things was played for the first time since July 12, 2003 (167 shows). The intro to Down with Disease featured a Pop Goes the Weasel tease and Also Sprach included Golden Age teases. Disease was unfinished.

Tahoe night two started out fair enough and the Stash happened. This is the song that gave birth to my poetry series and now Science Friction website theslopingcompanion.com and this one delivered. It was stretched out the way I liked it and could not come at a better time to get me more interested in the set. The Sloping Companion. Those three words mean so much to me. Maybe some other time.

The Funky Bitch is always a phamily pleaser and this one got the job done with no real leap into that place that we still have yet to give a universal name and definition. However, Phish was not running on idle. They were all invested the entire time.

Instant Karma was fun and notable.

My stream for night two is cutting out a lot more than night one. Do I blame comcast or do I blame Phish? I blame myself for being so obsessed.

I write notes about Phish shows while Phish is playing. Why? Because I can. I don’t do it everytime but couch tour makes it easy as pie but not American more like a nice rhubarb.

Second set of Tahoe night two opened strong with “Disease” Stop Stop Stop...No Phish...Keep on going. It might sound cliche but so far this has been a tour of second sets for me and I don’t say that about every tour. The jam at the end of “Disease” was strong and to the point. Trey’s sustain then broke into a short stated series of 16th notes the was reminscient of machine gun Trey of old but let’s not get bogged down in technicalities. Let’s talk about the feelings that those technicalities create in any number of people with any number of backgrounds....Shit...Machine gun Trey. It’s one of his elder tricks and he has learned apply it tastefully over the tours instead of banging you over the head with it to the brink of almost having an anxiety attack 1.0 style. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy that brink in my youth..Hell...I chased it... but I am in a much more relaxed anti manic stage in my life and have learned to embrace the whole that present day Phish creates and when he brings out the machine gun then I stand ready to be shot by it.

It’s these same tasteful applications of their entire tool box that has marked the maturity of this band into present day American venue icons and I don’t use the word icon casually. “Disease” went on until it melted into an abrupt rest and then back up again into “Runaway Jim.” Plinko Jam became the theme of this meandering “Runaway” for the intro into the second verse. They have been using that tastefully as well this tour and I actually am embarrassed to even use the term publicly but there you go.

The second chance for the band to improvise was again straight ahead Phish and created a second story beyond the plinko....beyond the jam....beyond any competition. And then we went there again...Phish took us there again as the song concluded. Where did they take us? They took us to that place that we still haven’t been able to universally define or put our finger on exactly because it keeps wobbling off every time we get closer to the one. However we wobbled for quite some time before they busted out the arguable song of the Summer for me personally. We are truly living in a Golden Age. Sell now!!!

The impromptu vocal jam out of Sallie made the song unique and obviously had the crowd shaking their collective asses.

Fuck...Guyute. I have often said that I could hear “Guyute” at every Phish show and never complain. Do I really need to explain why? The short answer is that this song rang through my head almost every time I lined up to the assassination range while I performed in The Dupage Symphony Orchestra. We were playing Brahms or some god awful rehashed Christmas spectacular...but in my head...everytime I picked up a stick or a mallet....I was playing “Guyute.” That’s the short answer. The long answer? Let’s not go there.

Trey grinning before going into the final verse left me fleeing all cares and worries of the day while we were getting ever closer to that one thing. Mike also was grinning ear to ear during the final musical phrase and it’s always good to see him lose the poker face and smile like he probably smiled when he figured out his first scale.

WATSIYEM? I had been secretly waiting for this without going gaga about it on any of the boards. It’s one of the songs that unify everyone involved because in this song we see set up after setup after setup after setup and then....the vocal jam. It was my secret wish since The Gorge launched this leg and I was lucky enough to see it in High Definition. How many set up’s are actually in a standard “You Enjoy Myself?” Then again, this is Phish. Is there anything ever standard about a live “You Enjoy Myself?” The trampolines came out and Fishman was clicking away on his hi hat in perfect sequential order and then the debatable hose for a brief moment. Then, back into Fishman’s seqeuncing which turns into the kilter/off kilter accents on the snare then the debateable predetermined hose again as a whole note just sits in your belly then....then....Boy.Man.God.Shit. Then, the lyrical mind fuck that can only come after listing four basic words that are powerful enough on their own but when stated together and in that order....well...What exactly are they saying in this song? It’s something bigger than we could ever know. It’s something bigger than the four guys on the stage for that matter. It’s the gateway to that one thing. It’s the subconscious wobble that makes itself conscious multiple times when everyone is dailed in...The Mike solo that was the punctuation mark on the end of the first part of the song magically propelled Trey to dance like nobody was watching but we were all fucking watching and if you weren’t smiling then you should just give up right now. Then, the vocal jam.

Phish quickly went into what I call their Nightmare Before Christmas harmony. There were spiders crawling up my keyboard and then onto my hands and into my various orafices to only lay and hatch more eggs inside of me. Then, they started shouting in some sort of other worldy chant...Not to the mothership but to the thing that controls the mothership. Was that thing answering back? Well...we live in a society that refuses to look up so we may never get that answer. One thing is for certain. Things are certainly looking up for the second leg of this tour for sheer historical record.

“Show of Life” concluded the evening. Lyrically it’s always a powerful message and is one that I am glad to have reiterated by Phish when they choose to share the message. You know some lives were changed forever in Tahoe. Some for the first time...Imagine having that transformation and then rounding it out with the message that “Show of Life” affords?

Some of us can remember that first moment....right? Isn't it our responsibility to give that moment to as many people as we know?

Boy.Man.God.Shit...I’ve learned what it takes to be a man and I don’t have to wish I was at home because I am on couch tour 2011. Boy...God...Shit? The other three? Again, it’s a long story. Let’s not go there. “Good Times Bad Times”. End of story.

Hi PhishPhans! I am the girl that made the ''DOGS STOLE THINGS'' Sign!!
It was Green and Glitter! It is one of my faves, I love the bluesy rifts and its just a good song! I took my sign to The Gorge, LA, & Tahoe! 2nd night at The Gorge, 1st set, I was 4 row Page's side... Well needless to say Trey and Page worked the pocket and at the end of 1st set I held my sign up one last time when Trey was waving bye- Well my sign was UPSIDE DOWN !!! hahah! He told me to turn it around, it was a great moment...took it to the rest of the way an it was a great OPENER!!!!

Thank you Thank you Trey & Boys for busting that one out! Cant wait to see what PhishDicks has in store for us!!
Maybe... Prep School Hippie?? ha!

Note, this is an objective review. If you don't like reviews that compare shows to previous ones then you may not enjoy this. This review is more for people who are very familiar with different versions of songs so that if they did not get a chance to view/listen to the show, they can have an idea if they would like to get it. Watched the feed so there is no live bias to the review.

Fun to see Dogs Stole Things opener--kinda fits into the theme of the summer of atypical openers. I would call the first set fairly standard, and at times , a little buzzkilling. Stealing Time and Halley's Comet seemed to be both cut off prematurely with almost no jam sections at all, which frequently leaves you feeling a little hollow. Insert bluegrass tune here (although I wish they would have mixed it up and gone with something else since they just played Poor Heart a few days ago). Alaska takes a lot of flack for being a set killer, but this version seemed to explore its jam a bit and was certainly respectable. After Halley's and a standard Ice came Circus, which seemed out of place, and always fits better after a blistering hot scorcher IMO. Nice to see Ya Mar, although Trey didn't get to explore his floaty, jazzy solo that has made such past versions highly enjoyable. Stash was played well and certainly picked up the energy a bit, which was kept up with a pretty good Funky Bitch. Instant Karma is a fun cover, although fairly standard to past versions. Antelope was predictable as a set closer, and while always a lot of fun at the show, this was a standard version that the band seemed to force out at the end of a set that lacked a definitive flow.

DWD to open second set is always fun despite a fairly standard, non-extended jam. Jim got a little exploratory before a sloppy, abrupt transition into Ghost. Good, standard Ghost went into Golden Age, a cover making more frequent appearances in the rotation as of late. Definitely an energy booster and fun to hear. A predictable and standard 3.0 version of 2001 followed. Next up came Sneakin Sally, which I always love (and crowd as well)....

...btw @robertchampion "the impromptu vocal jam out of Sallie.." --- Vocal jams on Sneakin' Sally are not uncommon. I'm not hating, just noting.

...Guyute came next and is always fun to hear. Wading in the Velvet Sea followed. Good version although fairly standard. YEM finally came back to life (only the 2nd time played in the last 19 shows!) so that was fun to hear. Typical length with a more upbeat jam section, and ending vocal jam.

Show of Life opened the encore and was pretty good. A relatively short, but powerful and rocking version of Good Times Bad Times closed it out.

Overall, the show looks pretty good on paper, but lacks flow and no one song really stood out. After a couple really well played shows at the Gorge last weekend, the band seemed to tone it down a bit this week.

solid looking show, second set looks awesome. i hope they keep golden age in the rotation for a while, i saw it at darien and superball and they play it very well, never even heard the TV on the Radio version

This was the kind of scene/vacation I wish could have gone on and on and on, so beautiful. The scene at the lake was epic.
There is enough already said about these shows but one thing I need to point out is the jam in the middle of YEM by Mike and Trey and the little boogie that went down with it. Mike busted out the bass lines to "Use Me" by Bill Withers. It's a great funky song and was cosmically mixed in to my life's themed playlist a week prior to going to Tahoe and when I heard that bass-line I was blown away to say the least.

alright, so this was the final night of my four-night phish run. after driving something like 1,000 miles from eastern washington to the coast and down through california to tahoe, walking through the gates into the “arena” for the last time was bittersweet. i’d been so happy with the previous three shows that it was hard to imagine that show would turn out to be equally exciting. but, of course, it was, because that’s the kind of band phish is.

really sharp version of dogs stole things to open. nothing like getting a bust-out that’s well-jammed taboot. i was even closer to the stage for this show than i had been for night one, and it was apparent right off the bat that things were clicking for the band again, much like they had during the gorge shows (and hadn’t during the previous tahoe show). this was my first faulty plan, and it was a lot hotter than it should have been in the number two slot. it seemed like it was only a matter of time until something crazy happened with the band playing like this.

things slowed down a bit, though, with poor heart, and then alaska. i much prefer alaska as a TAB song, and it always sounds a bit off to me when phish plays it. that said, this version was one of the better ones i’ve heard from them…and it led into halley’s, which i can’t complain about. i knew i was setting myself up for disappointment hoping to get a long halley’s here, so i just enjoyed what we got, which was another great vocal throwdown in the vein of meat from the previous night.

it’s ice is a great song, and this version was fast without sacrificing precision. one of those phish songs i could hear at every show and never get bored with. following it with when the circus comes was an interesting choice. i’ve always loved phish’s version of this song, and it was one i could check off the “have seen live” list. the solo didn’t really go anywhere, but like most solos out of wading in the velvet sea, simplicity works in this song, and the soaring licks suited the falling night just fine.

ya mar was wonderful, especially with page and mike plinking and thumping away, respectively. this song really seemed to kick things back into high gear, just in time for a fascinatingly weird, space-y stash that hinted at what was to come in set two. some might call a “ripcord” here as trey moves into stash, but it seems to me like an excellent example of the band realizing that the jam was petering out. as interesting as the stash was, it seemed to reach an obvious end and then we jumped into funky bitch, which is becoming a staple song lately. i don’t really care, though, because every single version absolutely rips, and this one was no exception.

instant karma! was fun, and definitely executed better than rocket man the night before. antelope worked as a set closer, and was a solid version, but definitely inferior to the gorge version. all in all, this was probably the best first set of the gorge and tahoe runs.

i absolutely love this second set. with the possible exception of guyute, the guys are doing interesting things throughout and with the absolute abandon that comes from being so skilled with your instrument that you don’t have to think out every move ahead of time. when things started off with disease, i was torn: would this turn out to be another 25 minute space jam? and if so, how would they make it sonically distinct from last night’s light and the gorge’s rock and roll?

i needn’t have worried. the disease got a bit spacey but mostly stayed within the confines of a jam led by some of trey’s best guitar work of the gorge-tahoe run. then it segued satisfactorily into runaway jim, which somehow melded the spaciness of the disease jam with jim’s bluegrass roots. from there, what we got was a run from jim to ghost to golden age to 2001 to sally, which was ultimately punctuated by random fireworks being set off behind the stage from down the street. this entire run of songs, along with featuring some excellent segues, was wrapped in the ambient-space-rock of the gorge rock and roll and the tahoe light, but that “jam” was simply spread out across six songs and 45 minutes. this was pure phish, taking the ambient sound that had worked over the last few nights and spreading it out over a number of songs to keep the approach fresh. when things finally wound up after sally, i was almost disappointed to hear guyute start, as i’d hope they’d create something like a “space set”.

WHY IS GUYUTE SO HARD TO WHISTLE TO?!

wading in the velvet sea seemed like a perfect ballad for me to end the run on, and a great way to cool things down slightly before launching into a HUGE YEM. by this point i was right up against the stage, and as a result i had to fend off a bunch of morons jumping up and down on my toes and elbowing me over and over in the face, chest, and arms, but what i could hear of this YEM while defending myself was amazing. i suppose it’s a testament to how much it stirred the crowd up that i was almost inadvertently beaten to death by excited phans.

i like show of life, in theory, and this version was a bit spicy towards the end, but the whole time i was thinking to myself “please don’t let this be the closer”. fortunately, the lights didn’t come up after, and the band went into a solid version of good times bad times (which was also the closer at my first ever phish show).

i’d hesitate to rank this show *above* either gorge show, but it’s surely on par with them, and it finds a way to make itself stand out among the four shows of the gorge-tahoe run with an unexpectedly heavy first set and a second set that ranks (for me) right up there with the rock and roll -> meatstick -> boogie on of a few nights before.

Set I fizzled last night, and you could feel it in the crowd. I was pleasantly surprised with the Dogs Stole Things opener, but I feel like it set too mellow a tone for the rest of the set. Alaska really dragged and the crowd seemed to lose interest. Halley's began to perk things up a bit, but the jam was cut a bit short. Trey had fewer flubs than usual during It's Ice, but during the dark atonal part, Fishman seemed to be in a rush and chimed in too early for my taste and before I knew it we were dragging through Circus. Ya Mar was fine. I felt that Stash never took off. It seemed to me like Trey was trying to start the jam a little quieter and focused and wanted things to build, but it never really took off IMO. The end of Stash was a little hotter, and I feel like they went to Funky Bitch because Trey knew he'd be able to find his groove... and he did for the most part. But Antelope fell short for me as well, and overall I was left feeling pretty "meh" after the first set. Don't get me wrong, there's no other place I'd rather be than at a Phish show, but I had high expectations for such beautiful surroundings (that are especially sentimental for me having spent time in South Lake every summer growing up).

Contrary to how many of you felt about the second set, I thought it was absolutely awesome. I think the band realized the first set was a little weak, and despite having played DWD just two days earlier, they knew that it'd be difficult to not get something going opening the second set with it. Though the jam wasn't long, I thought it was tight. I was a little worried at first with the "ripcord" as well, especially jumping into Runaway Jim (what if it were just a standard Jim and then they play Possum again?!), but Jim did not disappoint. The outro jam from Jim was spacey and great, and at that time my buddy Dave and I turned to each other and nodded "Ghost!", and our wish was granted. Again, clean, nice peak, not as jammed-out as I'd like, but solid. The energy kept up with Golden Age, which is quickly becoming one of my favorites (it kind of has a Crosseyed feel to it doesn't it?). It was well-played, kept the energy up, and as night was falling, the lights really started taking off too. Everyone felt the 2001 coming on as well, and I'll never complain about a 2001. Dave and I said before the show we thought the second set would end with 2001 > YEM, but 2001 wasn't especially jammed out so we knew there was more to come. Sneakin' Sally snuck up on everyone, and everyone was feeling it! I loved the vocal jam going back into the jam. I've seen about 10 3.0 shows and I can say with certainty that DWD > Jim > Ghost > Golden Age > 2001 > Sally Alley was the best six song stretch I've seen since the reunion. There wasn't a misplaced song or a low point. Guyute was a flubfest and sort of killed the buzz from the first 50 minutes of the second set. Velvet Sea was fine, though the only thing I can think about when I see it live is Page crying at Coventry. It was nice to see YEM close the second set; I thought it was sort of strange that they hadn't played it since before Super Ball IX, and with all the repeats so far in the August shows I figured they'd've played YEM by then. YEM was above average, and Kuroda was on fire from Wash Uffizi to the end of the vocal jam.

I actually don't hate Show of Life, but I think it's being overplayed in precious slots in the setlist, and it was a bummer to hear encored. GTBT was a great way to end the show (though there were some points of hesitation and uncertainty here and there). All in all it was a great time, and many of my friends who went both nights (I only went the second night) said that the second set was the only above average set of the four played in Tahoe... I guess it goes to show how even though watching the stream is awesome, one can get a completely different experience being there. From most of what I've read online, people seemed to enjoy Set II from 8/9 the most, but most of the people I spoke to last night like Set II from 8/10 more. Looks like I'll have to go back and listen to it all again!

Listening to this Jim gets me kind of angry. The last minute or so was a really excellent groove, almost like an uptempo "Riders on the Storm" or something with Page's Rhodes and Fish riding the cymbal so smooth... It had the potential to be an utterly transcendent, unprecedented memorable jam... WHY did they have to abandon it so quickly?

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